Rhinovirus noun A virus that affects your nose (i.e. rhino in Latin). NOT a virus that would turn you into a rhinoceros.
Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change As opposed to nostalgia--the melancholia or homesickness experienced by individuals when separated from a loved home--solastalgia is the distress that is produced by environmental change impacting on people while they are directly connected to their home environment.
Hmm. In other words, when I take a walk in the local park, and I see how many people threw away plastic wrappers and Coke cans on the grass (so the whole thing looks terrible, and bums me out) ... would that be solastalgia?
Hmm. Do you mean something like "Goddammit!! No matter how much I recycle, there's still garbage in the water and poison in the sky!! I miss the bad old days, when I turned on the tap and got hot and cold running crud!"
Illeism: the act of referring to oneself in the third person From the Latin ille, meaning "he" or "it."
Did anyone mention Latin? *cracks his knuckles* For a start, these two maxims are well-worth knowing... Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. Translated (not quite literally, but close enough) as “The times change, and we must also change with them.” Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses. Translated (not quite literally, but close enough) as “If you’d kept your mouth shut, we might have thought you knew what you were talking about.” But that's rather mean. So here's a nicer one ... nos qui morituri volumus uti latrina. We who are about to die want to use the toilet!
More an abbreviation than a word - can be used in place of etc. -- Etm. - in Latin, et merda, which translates - "and shit"
thanatophobia - a severe preoccupation with death - constantly ruminating or worrying about death in a way that disrupts your daily life and causes significant distress. This preoccupation becomes all-consuming, impacting your emotions, thoughts, and overall mental health.
Yes, I believe this was especially the case in England in the mid-to-late 19th century. Given the increasing effects of air pollution (due to industrialization), and the emergence of the-then new diseases such as typhoid, scarlet fever and especially cholera (and many others), plus Queen Victoria's prominent and prolonged mourning after Alfred's death, this isn't entirely surprising. Equally common in mid-to-late-19th century England, and particularly London, was taphophobia (from Greek τάφος – taphos, "grave, tomb" and φόβος – phobos, "fear"). As the root suggests, this is an abnormal (and psychopathological) phobia of being buried alive as a result of being incorrectly pronounced dead. 19th-century inventors addressed the fear of being buried alive with safety coffins, i.e. a coffin with a cord installed inside that was connected to a small bell. If one was alive, one could pull the cord and ring the bell. I've no idea if anyone ever did this, or if they did, whether anyone heard them and rescued them.
I notice one thing missing from that insect inventory. Where is the herofly to rescue the damselfly from the dragonfly?
He was on his way, but a lawyerfly stopped him at the door and insisted on explaining laws about persecution of an endangered species (section 1, subsection xviii).
Anyway, what new word did I learn today? How about ... Serendipity. The act of finding something valuable or interesting when you are not looking for it. This word was coined by English author Horace Walpole in the mid-1700s, crediting it to a fairy tale he read called "The Three Princes of Serendip". In the tale, three Persian princes sail to an island called Serendip (today's Sri Lanka) to find their fortunes, and discover many wonderful things along the way. For instance ... "It had to be serendipity that I found my dream house during a random drive in the country."
An alternative definition, “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.”
I always heard it was the naked island girls frolicking in the surf that put the word over the top, but that could be apocryphal.
Affogato noun an Italian dessert consisting of vanilla ice cream topped with a shot of espresso coffee.
My favorite. It should come with a little biscotti cookie too. Pairs well with a dark espresso martini. Or maybe some Amaro. Or Strega. Or lemoncello. Or one of each the way I do it sometimes!
Ah, yes. (Small picky point: it's limoncello with an "i", but eh). Affogato is great. Last year, after years and years of reading about the ancient Romans (and saving up, both money and annual leave), I finally had enough of both to plan a 5-week holiday in Italy. Two weeks in Rome, a week in Florence, a weekend in Venice, and back to Rome for a week before flying home. Italian spring heading into summer, with nothing much to do except seeing the sights, relaxing, and enjoying the sunshine -- and the food and the coffee! Nothing better than Italian coffee and pastry for breakfast! And, of course, pizza and pasta and fresh fish dishes are all wonderful in Italy. A lazy ice-cream on a sunny afternoon by the Adriatic. Sunny mornings, strolling in the Villa Borghese. What could be better? I also knew a little Italian, which helped, but I looked up the rest on google translate and gave it my best try. People seemed to appreciate it. I didn't see too many places that offered affogato, which was surprising. But there were plenty of biscotti and limoncello. Italy's a great place for a holiday, but make sure to save before you go, and obviously, read up on Italian etiquette and law, so you know what to do and what not to. (For instance, don't splash your feet in the fountains. I definitely didn't, but I read about some tourists who did ... and Italian people HATE that kind of thing. Having been there, I understand why: the Italians pride themselves on how pure the water is, even in the fountains. It's so clean and clear, anyone can fill up their water bottles in the fountains. I was there in early summer, and having access to clean, pure water when you're on the go in the hot sun is very welcome. So, yeah ... don't stick your feet where people drink!) But overall, as long as you're careful and don't act like an ass, you'll probably love your Italian holiday.
Here's a good one - absquatulate, which means to evacuate with comic haste, or something like that. I learned that on the Words Unravelled YouTube channel - lots of fun, at least the one episode I've seen.
